How high can a flea jump

I've been nervously chatting to Lara on the dating platform Match.com for two minutes. She's flattered me about my age ("so young!") and she says she's going to take care of me.I like her already - but Lara is not real.She - or rather, it - is a chatbot, an artificially intelligent computer program developed to communicate with people online.The bot was launched in France in 2016 and then rolled out in the UK in April 2017, to help potential clients get started in their search for love by setting up their Match profile for them.It was the first to be released by a major dating site and the firm claims that 300,000 people a month complete their dating profiles with help from Lara.The chatbot is not a voice-controlled interface - you communicate by typing - but it can operate in 12 languages, asking users simple questions about what they are looking for and what they are like.Experts say it can also encourage people to be more honest about what they really want, rather than write what … [Read more...] about Can a chatbot help you find love?

The market, usually called Saigon Ve Chai (Saigon scraps), is a unique place where people come to share their passion and look for old and rare items.Prices of items range from cheap to expensive for the more luxurious, and everywhere in between, because the owners collected the wares from a myriad of locations across the world.For example, Omega watches can cost up to thousands of dollars each, while other brands such as Citizen are priced at VND100,000. Smoking pipes can be priced for as much as VND500,000 each.According to Tran Khac Dung, owner of the café and founder of the market, trading is based on mutual trust, and sellers are willing to brief their customers on items.A small stage also stands in the middle of the market, thus, people can take a break from all the haggling over prices and sing together to relax. … [Read more...] about A flea market at the heart of HCM City

Wedding, as many tell many others, is the happiest day in the life of any individual on earth. And just the way life sentence is reserved only for felonies, when two human beings decide to bind their life together forever, no one can take it lightly. As with all kinds of social gatherings, attending a Vietnamese wedding requires certain social knowledge to ensure you make it out without becoming the laughingstock of the day. The wedding politics Wedding, in the age of materialism and increasing class divide, has evolved to become a political tool that could make or break your relationship with your boss, your childhood friend or even your relatives. So once invited, don’t dare to skip it. If you must, make sure your presence is known in other ways. Hint: monetary. You’ll receive a delicately designed paper invitation in traditional red or a-la-mode pastel palette. Vietnamese like to deliver their wedding invitations in person to ensure people make the effort to come as the … [Read more...] about How to survive a Vietnamese wedding

The global Pokemon Go craze has prompted a slew of complaints, from memorial sites arguing it's disrespectful to play there to whole countries imposing a ban on the smartphone game. Which places have declared war on Pokemon? Sites that have expressed irritation at Pokemon Go players include private properties, government buildings, historic monuments and memorial sites. The museum at the Auschwitz Nazi death camp, the Holocaust memorial in Berlin and Japan's Hiroshima memorial have all complained about visitors bent over their mobiles trying to catch Pikachus instead of contemplating the weight of history. Iran and Saudi Arabia have also declared blanket bans on the game. The Iranian ban came days after its release last month, with officials saying it could be used for spying because the app leads users to real-life locations, though youngsters are playing regardless, using VPN connections to mask their location. In Saudi Arabia, the top clerical body has meanwhile re-issued a … [Read more...] about Pokemon No: Can a place declare the game off-limits?

1. Create an elevator pitch Just as if you were engaging a customer, have a short pitch that will persuade employees that a stand-up culture is an important goal. Make it a compelling pitch about how accountability will benefit us all. 2. Write some guidelines What does it actually mean to be accountable? Different people will have different ideas, and you need to set some specific rules in place for your organisation. That brings accountability to life. You might say, ‘We’re going to provide feedback. We’re going to do what we say we will do’ This kind of thing can be very useful when your team is facing a difficult decision. Imagine a group of people sitting in a conference room trying to decide whether to ship something or not. If your accountability guidelines include the statement, ‘We do not ship anything unless it’s a quality product,’ then the decision is easy. 3. Weave accountability into your organisation Whatever you do, don’t … [Read more...] about How to build a culture of accountability

As violence in Iraq has worsened with attacks hittinga wider array of targets, security officials have held an unusualseminar for cafe owners -- how to stop a suicide bomber. Iraqi police officers and cafe owners attend a seminar suggestingmeasures to stop a suicide bomber for owners of coffee shops, November30, 2013, in Baghdad From employing private security guards to reducing the number of openentrances, officials gave tips on spotting and deterring militants,hoping to curb the country's worst wave of violence since 2008. Shootings and bombings have struck all manner of targets in Baghdadand elsewhere, but cafes -- where football-mad Iraqis often gather towatch the latest European games -- have been badly hit. Nearly 50 cafes have been bombed nationwide since unrest surged inApril -- 25 in Baghdad alone. The most recent -- a suicide bombing inthe southwestern neighbourhood of Bayaa -- killed 15 people on November21. "The security situation faced by cafes means they should … [Read more...] about Iraq cafes advised how to stop a suicide bomber

Awareness is essential for fire prevention, Major Pham Trung Hieu from the Ha Noi Police Department of Firefighting and Fire Prevention told Kinh te & Do thi (Urban and Economic Affairs) newspaper.Could you briefly talk about the current status of firefighting and fire prevention in Ha Noi?Firefighting and fire prevention in Viet Nam, particularly in Ha Noi, faces many challenges. Current practices don't work as well in tall buildings and in residential areas, particularly those built more than a dozen years ago. The city's biggest weakness is the lack of escape routes in densely populated areas. The designs of many community markets built before 2000 do not allow easy escape. Water hoses and firefighting facilities are there, but they are deteriorating. If a fire breaks out, it will become a nightmare for people in the market and its vicinity. The problems have existed for many years, but how can we solve them?Most buildings or markets have been operating for a long time. When … [Read more...] about How to avoid a fiery nightmare

Illustration photo Việt Nam showed a big jump in the confidence index in Q1 2011, from 62% to 80%, ranking the seventh among those countries with the high optimism indexes in the global ranking list.The Grant Thornton’s recent survey of 5,700 businesses from 39 economies showed that the developed economies got the most optimism of business activities in Q1 of this year. The survey also found that the economic gap between countries will narrow rapidly in the future. Meanwhile, General Director of Grant Thornton Việt Nam Ken Atkinson said that the shortage of skilled workers will have an impact on business trust in emerging economies and poses a real challenge for growth in such economies./. By Khánh Phương … [Read more...] about VN gets a big jump in business optimism index

HA NOI (VNS) — A Green Kindergarten Design competition was launched yesterday to raise awareness about energy efficiency and green buildings in Viet Nam, while training the country's future architects and planners to adhere to sustainable building standards. The event is aimed at collecting ideas on how to turn a traditional and over-crowded kindergarten into an energy efficient and green infrastructure for preschoolers in the city's My Dinh urban area.The competition is targeting architecture students, requiring all applicants to submit designs for their ideal green kindergarten by May 10.The winner will receive a cash prize of VND20 million (US$940), and four runners-up will receive VND5 million ($230) each.The top ten applications will also be awarded certificates from the University of Applied Sciences Stuttgart (Hft Stuggart), one of the leading architecture schools in Germany.This initiative is being supported by the E4G Project, an awareness-raising campaign run by … [Read more...] about How to turn a kindergarten green

Flea market goers can find a wide variety of antique bicycles, cars, musical instruments, silver cups, pots, or even pencils every Sunday near Cao Minh café at No Trang Long street, Binh Thanh district, Ho Chi Minh City.
The market, usually called Saigon Ve Chai (Saigon scraps), is a unique place where people come to share their passion and look for old and rare items.
Prices of items range from cheap to expensive for the more luxurious, and everywhere in between, because the owners collected the wares from a myriad of locations across the world.
For example, Omega watches can cost up to thousands of dollars each, while other brands such as Citizen are priced at VND100,000. Smoking pipes can be priced for as much as VND500,000 each.
According to Tran Khac Dung, owner of the café and founder of the market, trading is based on mutual trust, and sellers are willing to brief their customers on items.
A small stage also stands in the middle of the market, thus, people can take a … [Read more...] about A flea market at Saigon’s center